Grüsse aus Österreich

Greetings from Austria. Posting has been light on the blog, and now I am on vacation visiting my wife’s family in Europe (*). I had prepared a few photos of Kauai to post remotely, but I haven’t even gotten around to those yet. But a friend on Kauai said he wanted to see my pictures of Austria anyway, so here you are. I’m going to spare you the details about the strange toilets and the cool little cars and stick to what I know, the great outdoors.

Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kaua’i anymore, and it doesn’t look like Kansas either. This is the flat land around Vienna:

I love the landscape of Europe, where in most cases, houses are still clustered into towns, the fields in between are still farmed by local farmers with a variety of crops, and patches of forest remain, harvested for wood and accessible for hiking and biking.

Springtime is a great season to visit, there are flowers everywhere. This is the little town where my wife grew up and where her parents and many of her friends still live. Those are solar panels near the church, they date back to the 1980’s when the town installed a lot of solar demonstration projects. Like most of Europe, the town is an odd mix of old and new, sometimes it looks good, sometimes it doesn’t.

Not all people live in villages, the countryside is dotted with small hamlets and houses. I thought the new houses were built by city dwellers moving to the nearby countryside, but my wife assures me they belong to the well-to-do farmers and their families who work the adjacent land. One detail I noticed is that they’re always by a country lane, not in big fenced-off yards or private estates. This photo shows a Maypole which the local volunteer fireman of each town erect and decorate as a sort of fundraiser.

In between all the fields, forests, and farmhouses, there is a network of country lanes, dirt roads and forest paths that are ideal for biking. One day, I went for a 15-mile ride with my 80-year old father-in-law and I think we saw more hikers and bikers than cars. And with only one exception, every paved road, no matter how small, is in such great shape you could rollerblade on it. And in between the villages and farmhouses, there are roadside shrines and chapels. Austria used to be a very Catholic country, and my theory is that the religion took some of the edge off the Germanic culture, in a good way. Nowadays, like all over Europe, the churches are mostly filled with older people.

Because it is springtime, everthing is green here. Not the deep, lush green of Kaua’i’s North Shore, but the exuberant green of new leaves in the bright sun. The hillsides are filled with yellow and white flowers, but I must confess, I didn’t hear the sound of music anywhere.

Actually some of the green hilly pastures remind me of the beautiful backroads on Kauai, specifically that little green valley you go through on Kainahola road between Kawaihau and Hauiki roads, inland of Kapaa.

Here in south-eastern Austria, near the city of Graz, these are the foothills of the Alps, and from the hilltops you can see the higher mountains to the north. Even though I’m not an islander by birth and I’ve lived in the mountains before, I was still surprised to not see the ocean and instead see the rolling land extend out to the horizon.

One day, we drove to the mountains, up to about 3500 feet, about the same altitude as Kokee. From there we could see the real mountains even further north and still covered in snow. This picuture shows a traditional wooden farmhouse and the lower hills back to the south.

Like the biking trails, there are countless hiking trails throughout the country. Many of these are networked into cross-country routes with clear signage all along the way. Up in the high mountains, you can hike from hut to hut, where you get a warm meal and a soft bunk bed every night. Here in the lowlands, you hike between inns and guest-houses, and even if you’re just day-hiking, it seems like there’s a outdoor café or restaurant at the end of every hike.

We went for a hike in a small gorge carved through some layers of limestone by a stream coming down from the nearby mountains. Behind me, you can see the trail marker painted on the rock, three stripes of red, white, and red that mimic the Austrian flag.

You almost never have to ford a river on these trails, and indeed there were several bridges to cross the stream whenever it was impossible to continue on one side. I heard the bridges were washed out in a flood 3 years ago and rebuilt the same year. This year a windstorm knocked down hundreds of trees less than 3 months ago, and the trail was already cleared by chain-sawing the trunks or rerouting the trail around them.

Somehow, this photo sums up many of the small details I liked about Austria: along one section of this cross-country trail, at a junction deep in a scenic ravine, the sign on the left clearly maps out a side trail up to a hamlet, while the sign on the right invites the hiker to eat at the small restaurant there, “only 45 minutes away.” Further up the side trail, another sign for the same restaurant advertises the menu.

I know I’ve made a lot of comparisons that sound unfavorable to “how they do things back home” on Kaua’i, but it’s hard not to like Austria, and as a visitor I only see the good things. I know from my in-laws that people here have to work hard to preserve what they’ve got, and from what I can read in the newspapers, politics here are like politics everywhere.

(*) True story: when I met my future wife in California, she always used to send mail home addressed as “Austria/Europe.” I have never had any post office anywhere mess up my mail in any way, so I thought she was being obtuse. But she said that she started writing addresses that way when a birthday card she had sent arrived a month late and postmarked through Australia.

Beach Cleanup

Earth Day (April 22nd) was last Tuesday, and thanks to my daughter, I was actually encouraged to do something. Her preschool had planned to go to a local beach and pick up trash, so I joined them. We’re a one-car household, and I didn’t have the car, so I did the right thing and bicycled there. That was easy, since it was the beach only a mile from my house, and it’s almost all downhill or flat.

In half an hour, a dozen children and some dedicated parents and teachers (aunties) picked up 30 grocery bags of trash. Most of this was from people visiting the beach, not plastic that has washed ashore as can happen at some other beaches.

Before putting all the garbage in the trash can, I sorted it and took out 2 bags of consignment containers (HI5), probably worth about $1.50. Sometimes when it’s feasible, I also sort out other recyclables (glass and plastic) to put in my recycling bins at home.

Biking home, I was going slow uphill and noticed lots more trash along the roads in my neighborhood. I didn’t have time to stop, but I did find a playable CD by John Cruz (mini review: not bad).

The moral of the story is that if a bunch of 2- and 3-year olds can do something for the earth, anyone can, it’s just a question of getting out and doing it. And you don’t have to clean up a beach, nor do you have to bike there, just take a plastic bag and walk in your nearest public space for 30 minutes. This can be a beach, a park, or just around your neighborhood, and sometimes you may just get an unexpected reward.

Backcountry Waterfall

Imagine you’re exploring Kauai’s backcountry and you come across a stream with some little waterfalls:

Source: Eric R.

Tantalizingly, you can see more falls upstream. You follow the stream further, feeling grateful it’s not too steep.

Source: Eric R.

Further yet, and you’ve found a little slice of paradise:

Source: Eric R.

As you can see from the attribution, I didn’t take these pictures, nor I have seen these falls myself. A friend of friend loves to explore all over Kauai and has found some awesome places. He gave me permission to post these images.

Kauai Garden Teas

I’ve mentioned that we like to do the tourist thing every now and then, and that includes stopping for some Lappert’s ice cream in Koloa when we come back from the beach in Poipu. The last few times we’ve gone, our 2-year old daughter wanted to wander around the shops nearby—they have so many colorful things to look at and some she can touch.

I forgot the name of the first shop, the one with clothes and world crafts, but the second shop to the left is Island Soap and Candleworks. While we made a few frivolous purchases there, at least the products are made on Kauai (I’ll give them a link because I like their solar electricity initiative, too). My wife is a green tea conaisseur, so one of the items we bought was a sachet of Kauai Garden Tea, a product we had never seen before.

At first glance, we thought it was tea grown on Kauai and were eager to try this new agricultural venture. But then I had a doubt because I’ve never heard of anyone growing tea, at least nobody credible. Upon rereading, the wording on the package only implies that the herbs blended with the tea were grown on Kauai. So then we were a bit skeptical and feeling misled.

But it turns out that the tea is quite good. The green tea that they use is not quite consistent with the price (about $20 if I remember right), but it was very drinkable. The blend of lemongrass and lavender gave this particular blend a hint of Earl Grey, which also has a citrus flavor from the bergamot. I liked the tea more than my wife, both because I like herb teas and she is more of green tea purist, but she admitted it had a pleasant, natural taste and the flavors went well with the green tea.

In the end, only the price is a bit steep (could not resist that pun), but maybe because we bought it in a tourist shop. There was a pineapple shaped tea ball that came with it, so that little gift made it seem worthwhile in the end. Unless we can find it retail somewhere else, we probably won’t buy it again for ourselves (how many tea balls can one use). However, we’ll definitely buy more as gifts for our tea-loving friends and family (if you’re reading and would prefer chocolate covered macademias again, just let me know :-).

They don’t have a website or any contact information, so if anyone knows how to reach the producers, let me know in the comments.

Kalalau Articles

I’m running out of titles for Kalalau-related content. I could update the Kalalau Trip Reports with the following links, but these are more newsy than pure hiking stories.

• First, two old articles about volunteer repairs to the trail last summer and fall. These repairs took place after my previous hike and photos of trail conditions, and I haven’t hiked the trail since to see what changed.

  I’m ambivalent about these repairs. In my mind the trail was passable before, so the work is probably cosmetic to make it look safer. I don’t mean to belittle all the work done, but I do worry about the soundness of the amateur repairs. In other words, if the volunteer did widen the trail with masonry work, only time will tell if it holds up to repeated use. On the other hand, I know some people were intimidated by the trail conditions, and it’s unfortunate when that takes away from the experience. And some repairs by the state tend to be shoddy, and all trails are temporary in the grand scheme of things, so it is more likely a good thing to have the repairs done.

  Interestingly, the first article mentions the need for archeology studies prior to trail work by the state. I know that the state has strict rules and maybe the fact is that being a historical trail itself that crosses some archaeological sites triggers the studies for any work. But I also wonder if they might realign sections of the trail and therefore make sure they aren’t disturbing new sites. In any case, I’m curious to see the repaired trail sections and any plans for the new trail work.

• Then, not to scare anyone, here’s a recent first-hand account of a minor accident on the trail that could’ve been much worse. The author doesn’t say where the accident happened, but there aren’t many switchbacks with view of Kalalau near Hanakoa, so I assume it’s the small valley just at the exit of Hanakoa valley, before the balcony trail. The location is important to me, because I’d be interested in knowing if the eroded trail condtion contributed to the accident, and given that the trail in that area is in poor shape, I’d have to hypothesize it was at least a factor.

  Then, of course, I need to discuss how the hiker could’ve avoided the accident. Although she mentions hiking experience, it didn’t sound too extensive to me. If you go backpacking once a year, chances are you don’t go on difficult trails. Kalalau is a difficult trail, but it can still be done by breaking it over 2 days, especially now that Hanakoa is open for camping near the midpoint and before the eroded sections. She admits that continuing past Hanakoa was overexerting herself. The other lesson, I suppose, is to not be too distracted by the views, and always secure your pack and your own footing when you stop to take pictures, drink, etc.

  I do not fault the hiker for going alone, I think that is still a freedom that should not be discouraged, though you must be aware of the safety aspects in exchange. In the case of the Kalalau trail, this story shows that the risks of hiking alone are not that much greater, given the number of people who do stop to help. People gave assistance and got the word to her family, and rescue personnel hiked in to escort her out. It seems like the system, both formal and informal, for rescuing people works well. There was a similar story in 2006, where an informal chain of good samaritans carried out an injured swimmer by boat (the injuries were much worse, but the person was also doing some extreme off-trail rock-climbing).

• Last, and surprisingly least interesting, is a feature article in National Geographic about the Na Pali coast, including the Kalalau trail. I haven’t seen the print edition yet, but I find the text of the article to be disappointing, and the photos and maps don’t work for me in any browser. The one picture and the thumbnails of the others look impressive, so it seems more like a way of getting pretty pictures into the magazine than a real attempt at covering the issues. I do like their map however, National Geographic always has nice maps:
  
  Source: National Geographic

  Starting with the obvious comparison to Shangri-La and giving only brief and inaccurate explanations of geology and Hawaiian culture, the article mostly centers around the writer’s trek on the trail. And there, predictably, the difficulty is exaggerated, the valley resisdents are stereotyped, and the story of Koolau the leper is told once again. Then the writer goes on to say how the campground is trashed and the ambiance ruined by a boombox. Granted, the “vibe” of the place can change from year to year, and maybe the trash is far more noticeable than when I was there last, but it sounds like the author had unrealistic expectations.

  I am reminded of another misguided travel article about the trail, though not as amateurish because it is, after all, National Geographic. I guess I just have to ask: if a journalist interviews a few people and then writes an article about their vacation, do they get to write the whole thing off as expenses?